BMI believes that, given the substantial headwinds facing the Venezuelan economy, the country's real GDP will expand slowly over the coming years, at 2.0% in 2013 and 1.5% in 2014. Despite enormous natural resource wealth, the economy's outlook will be dimmed by poor macroeconomic governance, high inflation, and significant political uncertainty. Furthermore, we expect household consumption to continue to be constrained by high inflation, which has substantially eroded purchasing power.